Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dolltearsheet 's review for:
Two Girls Fat and Thin
by Mary Gaitskill
I like the way Gaitskill names her characters (‘Justine Shade’ wrecked by sadomasochistic fantasies, ‘Dorothy Never’ seeking perpetual escape). I am not sure I liked the narrative structure of this book quite as much - influenced by Nabokov with opening Nabokov quote to boot, but little of Nabokov’s sardonic gaze actually settling into the narrative (only hints of Speak, Memory colouring its descriptive writing).
Two Girls, Fat and Thin does not seem as original and exciting in 2022 as it might have done in 1991 because, as cleverer people have pointed out, we have since reached a critical mass of tell-all incest stories. Incest stories coupled with ruminations about disordered eating are even rifer. The shock value melts away. What sticks instead is the book’s central, idolised literary figure, Anna Granite, who is really Ayn Rand - genuine subversion!
My blog
Two Girls, Fat and Thin does not seem as original and exciting in 2022 as it might have done in 1991 because, as cleverer people have pointed out, we have since reached a critical mass of tell-all incest stories. Incest stories coupled with ruminations about disordered eating are even rifer. The shock value melts away. What sticks instead is the book’s central, idolised literary figure, Anna Granite, who is really Ayn Rand - genuine subversion!
My blog